Violet Jessop: Titanic and Britannic Survivor

Violet Jessop is best known as a nurse/stewardess on board the famed Titanic. She survived the great ship's most terrifying moments following the icy collision but also survived two other great shipping disasters. She also served on the Britannic and Olympic ships, also belonging to the White Star fleet. This article tells her story.

Violet Constance Jessop was born on October 2, 1887, in Bahia Blanca, Argentina to William and Katherine Jessop. She had dark hair and pale skin. She was the oldest of nine children.

While Violet was still a child, she suffered several bouts of tuberculosis and was in and out of hospitals fighting the disease. One of the last times she had to undergo care for the illness was in a British Hospital. Violet was not expected to live due to her hemorrhages but as a last resort her father moved her and the family to Mendoza in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. He believed the air was better and would cure Violet. His faith in the clean air proved true as, miraculously, Violet's hemorrhages ceased and she recovered.

When Violet grew older she decided to be become a nurse. This decision mostly came about after the death of three of her younger siblings. In addition to her siblings, Violet's father died prompting the family to move to Great Britain where Violet, her brothers, and sisters would attend a convent school.

She did well with her studies until her mother became ill. Violet cared for her mother until money became scarce and she couldn't even afford food. Violet had to get a job and earn money for the family. Her fist job was as a governess but that didn't last for long so she signed up to be a stewardess on a ship.

The Orinoco, a single-screw sailing steamer built in 1886 and run by the Royal Mail Line, was her first ship but more would follow including the famed Olympic,Titanic, and Britannic of the White Star Line.

Violet marveled at these great ships from the intricate wooden carvings to the rich, lavish furnishings. Even third class state rooms were grand compared to those on smaller ships.

The RMS Olympic was the largest luxury civilian ship of the day. At only age twenty-three, serving aboard Olympic must have been grand. However, on September, 20, 1911, the Olympic struck the HMS Hawk, a British warship, off the Isle of Wight. Two flooded compartments and a twisted propeller shaft resulted from the collision. The royal navy blamed the Olympic's large displacement for suctioning the Hawk into her side.

On April 12, 1912, Violet joined the ranks of the Titanic thanks to the persuasiveness of some friends. The Titanic was familiar in several ways to her sister Olympic. The staff was eager to join Titanic enjoying their comfortable accommodations.

Violet roomed with Ann Turnball, another stewardess aboard Titanic. Violet and Ann went on a discovery of the ship having plenty of time before passengers were to board. They both marveled over small decks for the most luxurious suites, the lace bedspreads they had, and of the woodcarvings from Ireland and Holland.

The women were thrilled by the famous names aboard Titanic such as John Jacob Astor, Isidor and Ida Strauss, and Molly Brown.

Violet's voyage on the Titanic was uneventful the first few days of the trip, aside from having to succumb to the demands of passengers, but on Sunday, April 14, 1912, Violet recalls the evening with sunshine filled skies and a calm sea. The night was cold and the gray sky dipped into haziness as the evening fell. The evening was too cold to be out on deck so Violet went to bed and read English magazines from the library. She was talking with Ann when she heard a crash and a low crunching, ripping sound, as Titanic shivered and her engines ceased.

Everything went quiet at first but once news traveled around the ship that the liner was sinking, panic ensued and passengers scrambled for space on the lifeboats. Both Violet and Ann made it to their lifeboat.

Upon entering the lifeboat, Violet was handed a baby to watch over. She kept the baby close to her, trying to keep it warm and alive as they drifted helplessly in the frigid water.

Violet, like many others, could not believe the Titanic was sinking even as she watched the ship founder.
Several survivors noticed a ship mere miles from the Titanic's position, but the ship did not aid the sinking vessel. It wasn't until daylight that Violet saw the distant ship caught in the midst of an ice field.

Violet and the other survivors of the Titanic disaster, floated aimlessly in life boats for hours until the rescue ship Carpathia arrived in the early morning hours to rescue them.

In 1916, Violet joined the ranks of the hospital ship, Britannic, Titanic's sister ship, during World War I. She again signed up as a nurse.

It was on November 21, 1916, when Violet heard a loud roar while crewmembers were having breakfast. The Britannic shivered, shaking everything on the tables which continued to break as the ship continued on her way. Violet knew the ship had been struck, but she did not know by what. Years later theorists would suggest the Britannic sailed into a mine placed by a German U-boat.

Lifeboats were quickly filled and lowered away. This was all too familiar to Violet having gone through the same thing on the Titanic. However, there was a difference with this ship. The captain ordered the lifeboats lowered away while ordering the ship to steam ahead to more shallow waters. The forward motion of the ship proved detrimental to the lifeboats. The momentum along the side of the ship pulled the lifeboats back into the propellers. Violet watched in horror as a lifeboat in front of her was sucked into the propellers, smashing the boat to pieces. Bloody water and body parts were strewn everywhere in the water.

Fear gripped Violet as her boat was lowered into the water and pulled into the propellers. She was cut up by the main propellers but survived the ordeal with a only a fractured skull and a torn thigh. She fared better than several of her fellow crew members.

After Britannic, Violet continued to serve aboard White Star Lines, Red Star Lines, and Royal Mail Line ships. Years after retiring, she received a phone call asking if she had rescued a baby from Titanic. Violet replied that she had and the woman said, "I was that baby." The caller (and baby) were never positively identified.

Violet lived to be eighty-four years old and died of congestive heart failure in May of 1971.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_Jessop

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-biography/violet-constance-jessop.html.

Jessop, Violet. Titanic Survivor: The Newly Discovered Memoirs of Violet Jessop Who Survived both the Titanic and Britannic Disasters. Sheridan House Inc. 1997.